When it comes to writing, it takes a special kind of person to dig deeply for the fearlessness to put stories out into the world and then bravely face the feedback and the statistics that may follow.
To produce our best work takes a great deal of care, craftsmanship and attention to detail for a story to flow naturally. It also takes time, energy and patience to ensure that the words offer the writer and the reader a sense of value. To achieve this, the writer needs to be fully invested in the idea, the story and the creative process.
However, when it comes time to release the story into the world, we need to shift gears. Up to that point, each masterpiece can indeed be seen as “our baby”, however, once out in the real world, we can’t take too personally what happens.
We can write a great article, with an eye-catching title, a perfect “10.0” landing, not too long and not too short, and one we hope will resonate with readers. But no matter how much work goes into it, great results are not guaranteed.
This is especially true from a statistical perspective when we are at the mercy of the algorithms. The reality is that each article is competing with thousands of new articles released each day.
It’s no different than a movie that doesn’t do well at the box office or a song that doesn’t climb the charts despite the blood, sweat and tears that went into the work. As creators, we need to be prepared for that possibility.
It’s hard, of course, but we shouldn’t feel defeated. If anything we should feel more determined to keep at it, sharing the human stories that connect us.
To continue on our mission, we need a good supply of resilience. We need to dust ourselves off, grab the next idea and keep going.
Where does that resilience come from? To me, it comes from the knowledge that I have more than one story within me. I have six decades of life experience to draw from plus my brain is always on the lookout for new story ideas. When I remind myself of this abundance through which I can be creative, the individual performance of each story doesn’t matter to me as long as the overall body of work is moving forward.
It’s about looking at the big picture and seeing the whole process as a learning experience and a journey. Obsessing about every little bump in the road detracts from that forward motion.
Similarly, it’s about balance. It’s about doing our best and not second-guessing ourselves or getting too hung up on perfection when there is another idea for a story just waiting around the corner.
It took a while, but when it came to the stats for my blog articles, I developed a pretty thick skin. At the end of the day, the metaphoric sound of crickets doesn’t bother me. To me, it doesn’t matter whether one person read an article or one thousand. As long as I am making incremental improvements as a writer along the way and building a body of work for which I am proud, I am happy.
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Sincere thanks for reading!
Have a great day,
André
ANDRE BEGIN 
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